The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-11-27

OlNuo udIueS VI Tue JOWHS III WnlCH Cuc
firms are located. A letter arrived the
other day addressed First Assistant
Postmaster General, st. Louis, Mo. "
Many of the letters addressed to the
| st. Louis Postmaster are requests from
the writers to have their addresses
changed from one county postoffice
to another, and similarly foolish
| prayers.
The routes of different travelling
troupes are kept track of by the aid of
| the amusement journals and sporting
papers, and their mail is forwarded to
them in that way.
Yesterday letter properly addressed
to u. B. Speed & Co., Louisville, KY"
got to the st. Louis Office by mistake.
A clerk remembered in picking it up
to send on that he had couple of
hours before seen letter addressed j.
B. Speed & Co., st. Louis, Mo. y
| That was an instance of the service OF
memory, and the st. Louis, Mo-, was
crossed out and Louisville KY" writ
ten in its stead.
Among the letters yesterday was one
addressed to st. Louis, although it was
intended for the little town of Middle
town, o.
EASTERN IGNORANCE.
There seems to be some very stupid
clerks in the Postal Service in New
York City. Yesterday morning letter
addressed inns Reshier Voly syrcese
street aLvord n 208 n. "" was re-
turned to st. Louis. The smart clerk
at New York made st. Louis out of that
address, somehow, and sent it on here.
| Mr.. Zepp, of the st. Louis Office, picked
up the letter, and his trained eye
quickly read from the envelope: "Mrs.
Rosalie Voltz, 208 AlVord Street, SYRIA
cuse, n. Y. ;" to which address he sent
the letter.
A letter for L. B. Black, in little
town in interior Texas, was addressed to
st. Louis, and came in in yesterdays
mails.
A letter for "Fries Bros came from
a ooftling company, AMI was sent to
| Conrad W. Fries, soda man, who was
the right party. One to Nv. L. G.
Bray" was certainly intended for w. l..
G. Brey, and was sent to him, not
outstanding the fact that the United
States Court once held the st. Louis
postofice liable for adding a letter
to name on an envelope which
contained $25. A drunken man
in North st. Louis got the
letter and went on big spree with the
money. The sport was arrested, but,
being too poor to collect from, the clerk
who made the change in the address,
and who is still in the employ of the
postoff1ce, was obliged to hand over the
$25 to satisfy the judgment against the
postmaster.
THE AGGREGATE OF BLUNDERs.
The City Delivery Department aver
ages battles with over 100 of these let
tiers a day, and last year there were
over 1900 of them. The tools with
which the clerks work, are the street
guide, the Bankers Guide, the director
les of all the principal cities. and the
railroad guide. Letters for cashiers are
redirected by the aid of the Bankers
Guide. The clerk has in addition 20 the
directories of about fifty of the princi-
pal cities of the Union, and the local
directories, r. G. Dun & Co.'s and
the Missouri State Directory. The
style of the firm and the nation
atty, as indicated by the names,
often helps the directory clerk to for
ward to their proper destination bush
els OF carelessly addressed letters.
Jewish or German letters usually be-
long to Cincinnati or Louisville, and
any firm which has the words 80 nth
ern" or Western" in its title is sent
New Orleansward or to Kansas City, by
way of trial, and the trial usually To-
Gates the party to whom it belongs.
All firms that are not in the street guide
or known to the carriers, are entered in
a written directory, which the office
makes for its own use. This is quite
iorno hnnlZ xrritfon m Hotn
fectly indexed.
The tracer system makes work for the
carriers, but it assists pany letter to
find its owner. If letter is addressed
to John Jones, Franklin Avenue" and
bears no number at all, Clerk Patrick
starts the tracer, each Franklin Avenue
carrier being obliged to mark upon it
after due inquiry, mot known" or to
deliver it if he knows the party.
Cards of information are sent out
when letters just miss by hairs
breadth of being properly addressed.
The daily list of doubtful letters for the
mail carriers to look over to see whether
or not they know any of the names
thereon is a st. Louis idea, having
originated with Mr.. Herman, super
intendent of the city delivery depart
ment. This list runs from 200 to 300
names per day.
The work In the st. Louis postofice
has increased greatly during the last
year, and yet this city has the smallest
list of advertised letters of any huge
city IN the country. The city depart
ment comprises the. box delivery
department, the general delivery,
the distribution department, the
carriers, the exchange paper
cases. the special delivery and
the sub-stations. Itdeals directly with
the business men of the city, and is
one OF the most important de-
partments of the post office. There are
100 mail carriers employed, of
which number 1876 leave the
main Office. Six carriers are
employed under Superintendent A. c.
Gould, at 6915 South Broadway, twenty
nine at the corner of BGston and Comp
ton Avenues, under Superintendent
John Carroll, and nineteen at the North
st. Louis sub-station, 1907 North Broad
way, under Superintendent Joseph
Stolltebein. -Gtobe-DemocrGt.